New York duo is set to perform in the Regional Cultural Centre

New York-based Nora Brown and Stephaine Coleman are set to play at the Regional Cultural Centre.  

Nora’s family hails from Glencolmcille and Glenties and she’s looking forward to visiting and performing in the county of her ancestral roots. 

This is the duo’s debut tour of Ireland and the UK, they will perform in Letterkenny on May 21. Later in the summer, they will be back in the UK to play the Cambridge Folk Festival.

Over the past two decades, fellow Brooklynite Stephanie has established herself as a highly respected and sought-after practitioner of traditional Appalachian and Midwestern-style old-time fiddle. She holds the record for most ribbons won in the renowned fiddle contest at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, WV—where she first heard and learned the title track of the EP. 

Folk Radio UK says that the new EP "leaves you wanting more," continuing, "there is a shrewd exuberance in the way Nora and Stephanie play together on this EP, taking turns to lead and leaving plenty of space for each other to shine. They play with consistent flair and an audible mastery of their instruments.”

Brown—Brooklyn, NY’s eighteen-year-old banjoist/vocalist who has appeared at Newport Folk Festival, The Kennedy Center, Trans-Pecos Festival, globalFEST, and more—teamed up with award-winning fiddle player and fellow Brooklynite Stephanie Coleman for the EP Lady of the Lake, which came out in July via Jalopy Records digitally and will come out on vinyl in early 2024.

The duo performs two songs from the EP on the Tiny Desk Concert. Brown and Coleman discuss both the history of the songs they play and their own paths to folk music.

Reviews on the EP have been strong, "Despite their twenty-year age difference, the chemistry and richness of Brown and Coleman’s musical partnership cannot be overstated, and it reflects the six years the duo have performed live together,” Songlines Magazine said. 

Coleman learned the instrumental title track from a performance by Eric Merrill at the fiddle competition in West Virginia’s Appalachian String Band Music Festival, aka “Clifftop.” The song originated with Galax, VA fiddler Parley Parsons via the great fiddle and banjo player Paul Brown. It was released as the first single from the EP.

The EP was produced, recorded, and mixed by Peter K Siegel, who recorded Neil Young, Joseph Spence, and Doc Watson; recorded concerts that were later released by Mississippi John Hurt, Roscoe Holcomb, and Dock Boggs; taped an iconic Bob Dylan bootleg in the basement of Gerde’s Folk City; and has made vital field recordings on musicians from Indonesia, India, China, and Sweden.

“I was a big fan of both Nora and Steph when they were performing separately,” Siegel said. “Their new collaboration is more than the sum of its parts. They make their virtuosity so much fun to listen to. Their music is deeply rooted in American tradition, but the excitement of their performances is all theirs.”

Jalopy Records is a part of the non-profit Jalopy Theatre & School of Music, which holds as its central mission to support artists and educate the public by preserving, promoting and perpetuating diverse musical traditions.